Earnings Watch: Hard drive makers report amid PC sector fearsWestern Digital (WDC) and Seagate (STX) are expected to report quarterly results on July 29 and 31 with conference calls scheduled for 5:00 pm ET and 9:00 am ET, respectively. The two companies develop and manufacture computer storage solutions, including hard disk drives. EXPECTATIONS: Analysts are expecting Western Digital to report earnings per share of $1.45 on revenue of $3.25B, while Seagate is expected to report earnings per share of 64c on revenue of $2.92B. During its last earnings conference call, Western noted a "cautious" near-term outlook and forecast Q4 EPS to be $1.50-$1.60 on revenue of $3.3B-$3.4B. PRELIMINARY RESULTS: On July 13, Seagate reported preliminary Q4 revenue of $2.9B, adjusted gross margins of 27%, and 45M unit shipments, driven by what the company characterized as "lower than expected intra-quarter demand." The company had previously guided Q4 revenue to $3.2B-$3.3B, and analysts were looking for $3.19B in revenue at the time. LAST QUARTER: On April 17, Seagate reported Q3 adjusted EPS of $1.08 against expectations for $1.04, and revenue of $3.3B versus estimates of $3.4B. Following that, Western Digital reported Q3 EPS of $1.87 on April 28 versus estimates of $1.89, and revenue of $3.5B against expectations for $3.6B. NEWS: On May 1, Seagate announced plans to combine its Cloud Systems and Electronic Solutions groups, and on July 14, the company said it extended its alliance with HP (HPQ). STREET RESEARCH: On May 15, RBC called Western Digital shares "compelling" due to multiple near-term positive catalysts, though Morgan Stanley said on May 19 that it was just "cautiously optimistic" on Western because of softened growth expectations for the general PC market. On May 28, Goldman Sachs called fears of PC weakness overdone and upgraded Western Digital to Buy, saying the company's increasingly enterprise-heavy mix gives it a healthy long-term profit forecast. On June 12, Longbow reported that its hard drive price checks were not quite as bad as it had feared, adding that Western Digital's guidance appears achievable while Seagate's forecast appeared at risk. Heading closer to earnings, Citi said on July 2 that it expects somewhat weak quarterly results for the two hard drive giants but recommended buying both Western Digital and Seagate shares on any perceived post-earnings weakness. Stifel somewhat echoed that point on July 8, saying investor sentiment seemed overly negative towards Western, with traders potentially underestimating the company's shift towards enterprise products. Note that on July 23, Morgan Stanley said its June CIO survey indicated incremental enterprise IT budget weakness, leading the research firm to downgrade Western Digital to Equal Weight and drop Seagate two notches to Underweight. On the M&A front, Susquehanna said on May 29 that SanDisk (SNDK) remained an attractive takeover target, with Western Digital looking like a likely buyer. However, RBC and CLSA both raised doubts on June 5 about the possibility of such a deal. PRICE ACTION: Shares of Western Digital are up 1.34% to $78.83 ahead of Wednesday's report, while Seagate is up 0.84% to $49.28.

Box names Paul Chapman as Chief Information OfficerBox (BOX) announced that 25-year IT industry veteran Paul Chapman has joined the company as its Chief Information Officer, responsible for driving a broad range of IT initiatives to support the company’s more than 1,200 employees worldwide and customer base of 47,000 organizations. Chapman was most recently CIO of HP Software for Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ).

Micron, Intel to discuss technology similar to HP memristor, Hesseldahl saysArik Hesseldahl of Re/code said on Twitter: "Intel and Micron are going to disclose technology similar to HP's memristor technology. It will be called: 3D XPoint" Reference Link

Stratasys upgraded to Buy with $45 price target at DoughertyBefore the open, Dougherty analyst Andrea James upgraded Stratasys (SSYS) to Buy from Neutral and set a $45 price target on the stock, noting that the firm's North American channel checks indicate the sales climate has improved since the stock was downgraded in April. James also said that the pullback in the stock over that time frame leaves it trading at a "historically low P/E multiple" and that the firm believes HP (HPQ) will compete more directly with others in the 3D space than it will with Stratasys.